Network Operating System Security

Network operating system use one of the two security models:

Share level security

User level security

Share Level Security

It is often used on peer-to-peer networks where each user can decide which resources of the machine should be shared among other users on the network.

The shared resources can be protected from other users via passwords as a mean of authenticating the user requesting the resource.

For example A windows 9x machine can provide the following access privileges when sharing a folder:

Read-only access based on passwords or without a password.

Full access based on a password or without it.

Choice between both access levels depending upon the password entered by the user requesting the resource.

The owner can also secure resources like printers with the help of a password.